This article was downloaded by: [DigiTop - USDA's Digital Desktop Library] On: 11 April 2014, At: 09:42 Publisher: Taylor & Francis Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of Natural History Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tnah20 A new genus and species of Nematalycidae (Acari: Endeostigmata) Samuel J. Boltona, Hans Klompena, Gary R. Bauchanb & Ronald Ochoac a Acarology Laboratory, Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43212, USA b Electron and Confocal Microscope Unit, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705–2350, USA c Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705–2350, USA Published online: 20 Feb 2014. To cite this article: Samuel J. Bolton, Hans Klompen, Gary R. Bauchan & Ronald Ochoa (2014): A new genus and species of Nematalycidae (Acari: Endeostigmata), Journal of Natural History, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2013.859318 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2013.859318 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Versions of published Taylor & Francis and Routledge Open articles and Taylor & Francis and Routledge Open Select articles posted to institutional or subject repositories or any other third-party website are without warranty from Taylor & Francis of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. 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Downloaded by [DigiTop - USDA's Digital Desktop Library] at 09:42 11 April 2014 Journal of Natural History, 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2013.859318 A new genus and species of Nematalycidae (Acari: Endeostigmata) Samuel J. Boltona*, Hans Klompena, Gary R. Bauchanb and Ronald Ochoac aAcarology Laboratory, Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43212, USA; bElectron and Confocal Microscope Unit, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705–2350, USA; cSystematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705–2350, USA (Received 23 April 2013; accepted 12 September 2013) Osperalycus tenerphagus, a new genus and species of Nematalycidae (Acari: Endeostigmata), is described from Ohio, USA, using light microscopy and low- temperature scanning electron microscopy. Specimens were extracted from two different loam soils. This genus can be readily distinguished from the other genera of Nematalycidae by the simple setae that line the opisthosoma. The mouthparts are especially distinct in possessing three-segmented palps, an unusual vessel- shaped structure, and rutella that overlap at the midline. The discovery of rutella in this genus and in two other genera indicates that the Nematalycidae can be more confidently assigned to the Endeostigmata (Sarcoptiformes). http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A64A6612-B66C-4814-80A9- 3856DEBE8C46 Keywords: Sarcoptiformes; Endeostigmata; Nematalycidae; low-temperature scanning electron microscopy; rutella Introduction The Nematalycidae is an unusual family of soil mites with a vermiform body that can be extended and contracted via a combination of hydraulic pressure and a continuous muscle layer underlying a thin epidermis (Haupt and Coineau 1999). Their unique physiology among mites is almost certainly an adaptation for living in small inter- stitial spaces in mineral soil and sand (Haupt and Coineau 1999). The Nematalycidae also appear to be exclusively thelytokous (Norton et al. 1993). This family is readily distinguished from all other Acari by a combination of a highly elongate idiosoma (adults ≥6 times width when fully extended), a much greater distance between legs II and III relative to legs I and II, and a genital opening much closer to legs IV than to the anal opening. The prodorsum of this family is also Downloaded by [DigiTop - USDA's Digital Desktop Library] at 09:42 11 April 2014 distinct from many others in lacking trichobothria and a naso, with fewer than four pairs of setae; the rostral seta is unpaired if present. The Nematalycidae was origin- ally treated as belonging to the Endeostigmata (Sarcoptiformes) (Strenzke 1954). It was later assigned to the Tydeoidea (Cunliffe 1956; Wainstein 1965; Krantz 1972). Kethley (1982) placed it outside the Tydeoidea but proposed that derived characters suggested a closer relationship with the Tydeoidea than the Endeostigmata. However, *Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] © 2014 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted. 2 S.J. Bolton et al. since the discovery of two families – Micropsammidae (Coineau and Theron 1983) and Proteonematalycidae (Kethley 1989) – that have a transitional morphology between Nematalycidae and other families within the Endeostigmata, the Nematalycidae have been more commonly regarded as belonging to the Endeostigmata (Walter 2009; Walter et al. 2011). Four genera of Nematalycidae have been described (Walter et al. 2011), all of which are monospecific. Nematalycus was described from groundwater from the Algerian coast (Strenzke 1954). Soon afterwards Cunliffea was described from pasture soil from the USA (Cunliffe 1956) and has since been collected from sands in Germany (Russell and Alberti 2009). Gordialycus was described from fine sands from southern France (Coineau et al. 1967). This genus has a worldwide distribution, having been found in southern Africa, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Cuba, Mauritania, New Caledonia, Australia, Brazil, Hungary and the USA, (Coineau and Theron 1983; Silva et al. 1989; Thibaud and Coineau 1998; Norton and Kinnear 1999; Norton et al. 2008). Psammolycus was described from sandy soils from Brazil (Schubart 1973). This genus may also have been found in the USA (pers. obs.). A published record from Spain (Moraza 2008) was in error and is instead Gordialycus (pers. obs.). A fifth genus and species of Nematalycidae is hereby described. The mites were collected from two different loam soils from relatively disturbed habitats in Ohio – a silty clay loam from a suburban prairie located on a university campus, and a sandy loam from a young chestnut plantation (see Material examined section for more details). Collecting took place throughout 2010 and 2011. As with all other species of Nematalycidae, all adults recovered were female, indicating thelytoky. Material and methods For the collection of slide-mounted specimens, soil samples were processed by soil washing in accordance with Kethley (1991). Mites that were recovered using this tech- nique were slide mounted in Hoyer’s medium. Live mites were also collected for the purpose of imaging with a low-temperature scanning electron microscope (LT-SEM) at the US Department of Agriculture, Electron & Confocal Microscopy Unit, Beltsville, MD. This was accomplished by directly removing them from floated material that had not yet been sieved. Searching was undertaken with a dissection microscope. Live specimens, for LT-SEM, were secured to 15 × 30-cm copper plates, using ultrasmooth round (12-mm diameter), carbon adhesive